Bushidō
Bushidō, the "Way of the Warrior", Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 7 was the code by which nearly all samurai in Rokugan strived to live. Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game Samurai were taught to reach the ideals of the samurai at the expense of one's own personal gain. Legend of the Five Rings: Roleplaying Game (Beta), p. 182 It was given by the Kami Akodo to the Rokugani. In the Garden of Lies (Part 1), by Marie Brennan The Code of Bushidō A compendium of seven tenets, The Great Clans (Learn to Play Rulebook) samurai must embody righteousness and honor, loyalty and duty, and courtesy and compassion, as well as courage. Should they prove unable to live up to these expectations, only ritualized suicide could wash away the stain to their honor. Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 7 * Compassion (Jin) - Compassion represented the noblesse oblige of the buke and kuge toward the bonge. Most clans interpreted this to mean extending physical protection over peasants, but other clans go even further. * Courage (Yū) - A samurai must be prepared to give their lives for their lord, their clan, and the Empire at a moment's notice. * Courtesy (Rei) - A samurai is required to maintain appearances and withstand adversity, exhibiting courteousness even when faced with the most vile lack of it. * Duty and Loyalty (Chūgi) - Samurai were expected to do their duty to their lord and their subordinates without hesitation or reservation, no matter the cost to their own honor. * Honor (Meiyo) - Samurai without honor could not truly follow the other virtues of Bushidō, for they acted as others expect and not as their own conscience dictateds. If their own honor was intact, however, they would follow the ways of Bushidō and pursued justice without flaw or failure, even when commanded otherwise by their lord. * Righteousness (Gi) - There was only truth and falsehood, justice and injustice, and it was the samurai’s job to live in accordance with justice and ensure that justice was meted out. * Sincerity (Makoto) - Samurai must align intent with their word and deed, acting with complete and total conviction, whether they served themselves or their lord. A convincing manner was more valued in Rokugan than the absolute truth, for the samurai who speaks with sincerity had committed the totality of their being to the sentiment. Bushidō and the Clans Bushido meaned different for each Clan: Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, pp. 42-48 * Courage was the greatest virtue in Crab lands, as they safeguarded the most perilous border of the Emerald Empire, warding it against the terrible hordes of Fu Leng. * Courtesy was of deep importance to the Crane, as their clan's political power rested upon propriety and the idea of others respecting their proper place, and their own. * Sincerity, finding the truth of oneself, was the greatest virtue to the Dragon Clan. Lies obscured not just the world, but one's own path to greater understanding. * Honor was at the center of the Lion Clan's view of Bushidō, especially in the context of martial virtue. * Righteousness drove the samurai of the Phoenix Clan in their pursuits, and they were willing to sacrifice themselves to ensure the right thing was done. * Duty and Loyalty was the most core tenet of the Scorpion Clan. They must be prepared to do, and sacrifice, anything and everything in the service of the Empire. * Compassion was the most significant tenet of Bushidō to the Unicorn Clan, for mutual understanding and cooperation was the key to the clan's survival during its long journey across the wider world. On this journey, members of the Unicorn Clan met many people with a wide variety of beliefs, cultures, and values, and they became far more accustomed to coexistence with strange outsiders than were most Great Clan samurai. Category:Rokugani Language (TCG) Category:Martial Arts (TCG)